Iron hands battle reports: new bat rep 2/23 (Page 6)

[Polythemus]

Alot of nice battle reports youve got here. Thats alot of drop pods! my concern is always fighting against such a list as you say you play in many tournaments, and you seem to have embraced the formations dataslate aspect of the game. I will say that I wish you well and hope i never have to fight your iron hands sir. great reporting.

[Axagoras]

Thank you guys, and dont worry about it polythemus. In casual play I would probably run something like my chapter master with his bikes (because I love that guy), 2 iron clads in pods, 10 tac marines in a pod, 20 mechanized marines and some speeders and dreadnoughts to fill. Maybe running a stalker or hunter for anti air. Also what do you mean by embracing dataslates, like the super heavy I ran to try it out? Also game 2 will be up later today.

[greggles]

Can't wait! Love your bat reps!

[Axagoras]

Battle 2:

(for the record the pictures of the bottom of 3 and top of 4 were saved over on accident so I had to go back and redo them and might have some issues, mainly my stalker losing a hp on my turn, and the wraithlord moving in my turn, he should of been there at the end of his turn. sorry about those issues, I realized them just now looking back and remaking the map would of looked even weirder)
 

My 1750 list as follows:

Chapter master Axagoras
Artificers armor, shield eternal, bike, digital weapons, thunderhammer and an auspex
(warlord trait was outflanking)

5 space marine bikes with 2 grav guns and a combi grav

4x 5 tactical marines with a plasma gun and a combi plasma in a drop pod

3x 5 sternguard with a heavy flamer, a melta gun and 3 combi meltas in a drop pod (1 squad had a standard marine instead of a heavy flamer)

4 hyperios platforms

Stalker AA tank

 

My opponent was running a eldar list (no I did not fight him in the November tournament)

 

Farseer on jetbike with singing spear and usual eldar psychic powers with the mantle of the laughing god (a lolseer)

 

2 5 man dire avenger squads in a wave serpent with scatter laser, shuriken cannon and holofields
2 3 man guardian jetbike squads with a cannon

6 fire dragons with a exarch with fast shot in a wave serpent with scatter laser, shuriken cannon and holofields

9 warp spiders

 

2 wraithlords with 2 bright lances and a ghostglaive

Wraithknight (warlord trait was bonus to deny the witch or something)

Deployment:

The deployment was vanguard strike, with primary big guns never tire and secondary was the relic with night fighting turn 1. In the top and bottom left corner of the board were some wreckage area terrain with a destroyed rhino in the southern craters. There were some craters in the bottom right and in the top right was a small ruin and some sand bags. In the center of the board was a large building that on the left side was similar to a skyshield pad while the one on the right had a large tower in the middle with a bridge connecting the 2 parts together. And on that bridge is where we put the relic. My opponent won the roll for sides and the roll for deployment and chose to go first. Big guns objectives were set up along LVO/BAO guidelines 1 in your deployment and 1 in the enemy deployment. He deployed mostly out of line of sight with the wraithlords behind the sand bags and the spiders out of most long range shooting. The fire dragons were in the northern serpent with the dire avengers in the other 2.The guardian jetbikes are in reserve, as usual. I deployed my chapter master and his squad as far forward as I could with 2 bikes in the cover. Stalker was behind them and near a objective and I set up the hyperios platforms close to the enemy so I could get shots on the enemy as soon as possible, maybe a little too close. I fail to size.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Deployment-1.png

Turn 1:

On his turn his wraithknights moved over the sand bag walls, the wraithknight moved at the hyperios. Fire dragon serpent moved flat out (wave serpent farthest south) and the warp spiders jumped up fast to get in range of the hyperios platforms as the other 2 serpent moved up. His shoot ing phase consisted of his whole army besides the wraith lords shooting the hyperios platforms (didn't fire the serpent shields) killing 3 of them and putting the last down to 1 wound so no first blood for him but a waste of the unit for me. In the assault phase the warp spiders moved back to the gunline.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Topofturn1-1.png

DEATH FROM THE SKIES!! I bring in the 3 sternguard squads and 1 plasma tactical squad with a nearly perfect landing besides 1 squad scattering back a fair ways but are still in melta range on the wraithlord. The stalker moves back a bit while the bikes move up but lose a grav gun from a failed dangerous terrain test and the chapter master splits from the squad so they could shoot 2 different units. The sternguard squad closest to the wave serpent blow it to pieces and the explosion along with the snap firing drop pods kill 2 dire avengers. FIRST BLOOD. The melta squad that scattered off fired at the wraithlord with hellfire and melta only inflicting 1 wound thanks to 2 passed cover saves form the sand bags. The tactical squad and the final sternguard squad combine fire on the other wraithlord and manage to push through exactly 3 wounds to down it. The grav bikers only can get 1 grav gun in range of the enemy and fire it at the dire avengers serpent but fail to do anything. The hyperios and stalker fire at the same target but only remove 1 hull point from it. Chapter masters orbital bombardment slams into the warp spiders killing 4 but they hold their ground. Seperating the bikers from the chapter master yielded no gain and will cost me when they return fire.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Bottomofturn1-1.png

Turn 2:
One of his jetbike squads comes in and moves to support the guardians, the dirve avengers disembark form their serpent to help the their brothers and the serpent moves off to make room for the fire dragons to get out and move in on the chapter master. The wraith constructs move to engage those who dared attack them. Warp spiders move in and destroy the last hyperios platform while the jet bikes and dire avengers pour into the sternguard squad killing them to the man. The farseer passes out twin linking like its candy. The fire dragons and the 2 serpents combine fire on the lone chapter master. 7 melta shots, 2 scatter lasers, 2 shuriken cannons and 13 serpent shield shots (all twin linked) breaching the artificers armor and the mighty shield eternal 4 separate times. Alas for the poor eldar, where Lysander of the Imperial Fists or even lord Calgar of the Ultramarines would of fallen, the Iron hands, especially Axagoras dont have time to waste on such luxuries and was left at 1 wound thanks in his internal repair systems (6+ fnp). On the other side of the board it didnt go so well, the wraith constructs each made their charge and proceed to kill 4 marines each but the iron hands held strong.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Topofturn2-1.png
 

On my turn all of my reserves came in, with a plasma squad moving in on the jetbikes, another on the warp spiders and the 3rd to get the dire avengers. Axagoras called his bodyguard to his side, he was too wounded to be running around on his own. The last sternguard squad moved up to clear the way of dire avengers and get away from the wraithlord. The bikers fire 1 grav gun at the fire dragons and kill 2 then multi assault them and the wave serpent, Since the chapter master was closer to the serpent he swiftly brought the xenos machine crashing down while the rest of his squad drew combat vs the fire dragons. The stalker failed to do anything of note. The tactical squad in the south only managed to kill 2 warp spiders but the remaining 3 fled back nearly to their table edge while the plasma squad with the help of the chapter masters auspex finished off the jetbikes. The tactical squad destroyed the 3 man eldar squad while the sternguard and all nearby pods lent fire support to down the 5 man squad. In the assault phase Axagoras and his squad cleaned up the fire dragons and consolidated. NONE SHALL STAY OUR WRATH! In the assault phase both wraiths cleared combat and moved towards the nearest targets.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Bottomofturn2-1.png

 

Turn 3:

His final reserved jetbike squad came in to the north and turbo boosted across the top of the board and his farseer moved up to join them. His warp spiders regrouped and the wave serpent turbo boosted off into my deployment zone. In the assault phase the wraiths both made their assaults with the last sternguard squad attempting to hold the line to allow the tactical squad to escape and just like in the first assault it kill 4 battle brothers. On the other side of the pod the wraithknight charged in and managed to kill just 1 space marine and both squads held strong.

 

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Topofturn3-1.png

 

On my turn the tactical squad in the south moved back towards my objective but kept the warp spiders withen 24 inch range and the other unengaged tactical squad moved up into the ruin and run behind the central pillar. The bikes moved to get in firing range of the warp spiders and Axagoras split from them to get the wave serpent. In the shooting phase the drop pods joined up on the warp spiders killing them to the man, and killing the rear jetbike. With the warp spiders dead the tactical marines in the south ran towards the objective and the bikes turbo boosted toward the chapter master. Once again the stalker failed to do anything. In the assault phase the wraithlord killed the remaining sternguard and consolidated towards his objective and the wraithlord failed to kill any marines in combat. My chapter master failed his point blank charge (once again why did I split him from his squad).

 

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Bottomofturn3.png

Turn 4:

My opponent joined his warlord to his jetbikes and moved the wave serpent back to fire on the chapter master. His wraithlord moved onto the objective on his side of the board and sniped a marine in the ruin before he could get behind cover. The jetbikes strip a hull point off the stalker with a shuriken cannon. The wave serpent unleashed a full salvo at the lord of the iron hands but the shield was still recharging and only contributed 2 shots but it was not enough, the lord of Irons artificers armor easily protected him from 4 wounds and the shield eternal held strong against a well placed shuriken shot (what is referred to around here call ghetto rending). The wraithlord once again failed to hit the iron hands running around his base.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Topofturn4.png

On my turn the unengaged tactical squad moved towards the objective in my deployment zone while the stalker moved next to the other one. The tactical squad ran onto the open bridge and grabbed the relic. The stalker seems more content to watch the fight then contribute to it doing nothing. Axagoras rejoins his squad and they charge the twice cursed serpent leaving it a smoking wreck. The wraithknight squishes 1 marine and Axagoras's self repair systems kick in bringing him back to 2 wounds.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Bottomofturn4.png

Turn 5:
The farseer moved up and threw the singing spear at the stalker but failed to pen. The jetbikes moved on the marines but failed to kill any but the wraithlord emerged from the ruins to snipe one off with its bright lance and in a temporary lapse of judgement they dropped the relic and they ran back 5 inches. The blind wraithlord fails to wound any marines.

 

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Topofturn5.png

On my turn the marines regroupd and moved back to the relic with the Sergent picking it up and 2 marines moved to screen him from harm. The tactical squad in the south ran onto the objective in the wreckage. Axagoras split from his squad sending them to stop the jet bikes from harassing the marines with the relic while he would destroy the farseer. The bikes make short work of the jet bikes after shooting them then assaulting into them. The blind wraithlord fails to wound any marines again, and axagoras takes a wound from overwatch then fails his charge, good thing he passed his it will not die tests. And the game ends on a 1.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Bottomofturn5.png
 

End result was me having 2 big guns never tire to his 1 giving me win on primary, I had the relic for a win on secondary. Also I had first blood and line breaker. He had line breaker for a 9-1 victory. Sending me into the final round with a nearly perfect score vs the man I fought in round 2 of the November tournament. Who was now running a modified ultramarine pod list.

[Paulochromis]

gotta say - I love these batreps.

 

you list for game 2 above only includes a stalker, but in the text and diagrams, there seems to be both a stalker AND a hunter

[Polythemus]

another great report. you really show off the power and effectiveness of the drop pod army. did you get to discuss the tactics of your opponent after? it would seem that perhaps he should have tried to tie up your bikes or used the spiders to take out your stalker or used his superior mobility to better effect. you did well to neutralized all those factors. great victory. 

[greggles]

Suggestion for future bat reps.  When you have an odd shaped piece of terrain, maybe snap a quick cell phone photo of the terrain board for reference.  That would give us a three dimensional idea of the scale of it.  (The one issue with vassal, is you have to fidget with it to get the terrain to look like the board does...which you do a spectacular job of doing!)

[Axagoras]

@paulochromis: Im not sure where I had a hunter in the pictures or talked about one, I had 4 hyperios platforms that shoot missiles.

 

@polythemus: I thinl he didnt assault with the warp spiders because they would of died extremely fast, and if he did that it would of freed up another pod of marines to help take the relic or jump on the wounded wraithlord when he got out of combat or even just pod onto the objective on my side of the board

 

@ greggles: Yea I though about that while writing it up, that this is a piece of terrain that is confusing to describe. Thanks for the advice.

[Paulochromis]

In Turn 4:

 

On my turn the unengaged tactical squad moved towards the objective in my deployment zone while the hunter moved next to the other one. The tactical squad ran onto the open bridge and grabbed the relic. The stalker seems more content to watch the fight then contribute to it doing nothing. 

[Axagoras]

fixed, thanks for catching that

[Paulochromis]

if we're being picky:

 

Turn 5:
The farseer moved up and threw the singing spear at the hunter but failed to pen. 

 

I thought the IF Rhino (SW corner) was a vehicle, not part of the terrain!

[Axagoras]

Fixed, and added the rhino to the description of the wreckage. Anything else I missed?

[Paulochromis]

No, no.

I'm saving up to buy more pods - you've inspired me!

[Axagoras]

Rephrased it, meant it as a question.

[Kierdale]

Congratulations yet again!

That Chapter Master of yours just won't die, will he?!

[Axagoras]

He sure is tough, many times he will take 4 wounds in 1 round of cc, or in 1 shooting phase and be saved by a fnp/IWND. Or he will finish a game at full health just wading through the bodies. Also school started up today so it might take me a bit of time to get the final battle up.

[Axagoras]

Battle 2:

 

My 1750 list as follows:

Chapter master Axagoras
Artificers armor, shield eternal, bike, digital weapons, thunderhammer and an auspex
(warlord trait was outflanking)

5 space marine bikes with 2 grav guns and a combi grav

4x 5 tactical marines with a plasma gun and a combi plasma in a drop pod

3x
5 sternguard with a heavy flamer, a melta gun and 3 combi meltas in a
drop pod (1 squad had a standard marine instead of a heavy flamer)

4 hyperios platforms

Stalker AA tank

My opponent was running a ultramarine version of my list (same guy I fought in battle 2 of the November tournament)

 

Tigerius (reroll to hit, ignores cover and 4++ save)

 

2x 5 marines with a plasma gun and combi plasma

2x 5 marines with a melta gun and combi melta
5 marines with a grav gun and combi grav

5 sternguard with a grav gun

2x Stormtalons with skyhammer missiles

3 Devestator centurions with omniscope missiles and lascannons
Thunderfire cannon with drop pod
Thunderfire cannon

Deployment:

The deployment was dawn of war, with crusade primary and emperors will secondary. The board had a large hilly area in the center that had a fair amount of room to hide models under, In the upper left was a 2 story ruin, bottom south had a single floor ruin/half of a bunker and in the bottom south was a 2 story ruin with a mini watch tower type 3rd floor. The rest of the board was rubble and small hills. We each placed the emperors will in our deployment zones and the objectives in no mans land. He won the roll for sides and for turn order and took first turn. He castled up in his ruin with tigerius joinin the devestator centurions, 1 thunderfire cannon was in the ruin with them and the other was across the board behind a small rubble pile. Each techmarine bolstered the ruin in front of him. I deployed in the ruin diagonally across form his fortress with the hyperios on the 2nd floor for a good range of sight (or so I thought) and to be out of range of his centurion, the bikers hid under the building with the chapter master and the stalker covering them from fire. The plan was to weather the storm of fire and counter attack and clean house. I chose not to seize and let his pods come in first.

 

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Deployment-2.png

Turn 1:
He brought in his sternguard, a empty pod from the tfc, his grav gun tactical squad and 1 of his melta tactical squads. The empty pod and the sternguard landed on target, the melta scattered off a slight amount and the grav flew off target into a nearby ruined house. The melta tac squad barley got the melta guns arround the corner and blew up the stalker clearing the way for the sternguard to kill 2 bikers. First blood to my opponent.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Topofturn1-2.png

DEATH FROM THE SKIES!!! I bring in my 3 sternguard squads and 1 plasma tactical squad. The plasma squad lands next to his grav squad in the ruined house but the first sternguard pod in scatters 11 inches off the board for a mishap and are placed in the bottom left corner of the board where they run to try and get back into the fight. The remaining 2 land on target and move to kill the centurions. Chapter master separates from the bikes and moves after the melta squad. The 2 sternguard combine fire on the centurions and deal 3 wounds (2+ save, 3+ cover, and 4+ invul) to the centurions killing 1 and leaving 1 at half health. The plasma tac squad only manages to kill 2 of their targets but the bikers shoot down 4 sternguard and charge the remaining survivor, 3v1 with hammer of wrath this should be over shortly. But the sternguard survives it all and combat is drawn. Chapter master Axagoras charges the melta squad and squishes 4 of the 5 but the last man holds strong.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Bottomofturn1-2.png

Turn 2:

My opponent brings his 2nd melta squad in and his first plasma squad in, but uses the rerolls to keep the other in reserve and only 1 storm talon makes in it. The storm talon flies in and being behind the watchtower so only 2 platforms can see it and they deal 1 glance to it. The melta tactical squad shows up in front of the lost sternguard squad and cooks 3 of them and the plasma tactical squad along with the centurions and thunderfire cannons kill a full 5 man sternguard squad and leave just 2 of the other squad. His grav tactical squad kills 3 of my plasma marines. Chapter master clears combat and moves on and the bikes draw combat with the sternguard.

 

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Bottomofturn2-2.png

 

All of my reserves come in, I send a plasma squad to deal with the lone tfc, one to jump on his plasma squad and 1 to bolster the attack on the centurions. The plasma squad in the ruin on the right kills 2 marines and the chapter master turbo boosts into the ruin. The survivor flees falling back. The plasma squad in the upper right unloads on the techmarine with 4 plasma shots but only do 1 wound which he easily passes his 3+ cover save while the plasma squad in the hills in the middle shoot the mirrored squad in front of them but only kill 2 thanks to cover saves. The 2 hyperios who didnt interceptor blow up the pod in front of them. The 2 surviving sternguard and the fresh tactical squad blast at the wounded centurion but even with a melta gun and 2 plasma guns no wounds are done... The 2  sternguard in the south move up on their attackers, killing 1 with shooting then charge in loosing 1 to a snapshot melta gun and then the one who made it in whiffs all rolls and dies. Failure. Bikes still stuck in cc.

 

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Bottomofturn2-2.png

 

Turn 3:

His final reserves show up with the final plasma squad of his jumping on my plasma squad and his storm talon moving to help the thunderfire cannon. His tactical squads converge on my forces in the north while the storm talon in the south flies into the open to be able to engage forces next turn. The thunderfire in the right with the storm talon kill the tactical squad to the man. The plasma squad in midfield kill 3 of my tactical marines, and the thunderfire in the left shoots at my hyperios killing 1 and pinning them (was ruled that since they dont have a ld value they auto fail). The rest of his army tag teams my survivors in the upper left killing the sternguard and 3 marines, survivors fall back.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Topofturn3-2.png

On my turn the chapter master moves out of the ruin to boost into midfield. Tactical squad in mid field moves towards their origional target and with the support of the pods drop the 3 of them. Fleeing tactical squad regrouped and killed 1 of the marines in front of them and the pinned hyperios snap fire getting 2 hits but fail to pen/glance av 11. The 2 marines next to the chapter master score 2 plasma gun wounds on the lone survivor of the grav squad and he hits the deck. Dead right? Wrong, boxcars to save. Chapter master charges into him killing him with hammer of wrath and uses the body as a spring board to move further forward.

 

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Bottomofturn3-1.png

Turn 4:

His 2 remaining troop squads pile onto the objectives and the storm talons reposition to get shots. The storm talon at 1 hp flew into midfield and gunned down the last 2 marines there while his 3 man squad on the right along with all nearby pods dropped the last 2 of my tactical marines. The storm talon at 2 hp put a wound on a platform.

 

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Topofturn4-1.png

On my turn the hyperios finally kill the wounded storm talon and my chapter master assaults the tactical marines in the hills killing them in 1 round the consolidating towards the final squad. On his turn his whole army poured into the chapter master but fail to cause a single wound. His surviving storm talon boosted into his zone to get out of AA range (should be facing the other way, sorry about that). And on the bottom of turn 5 Axagoras makes the charge, easily putting down the 3 ultramarines and consolidates towards the centruions and tigerius. And the bikes are still in a drawn combat with the lone sternguard, mainly I cant hit or wound in cc with them but on the final turn, 3 attacks, 3 hits, 3 wounds, and they are all passed. Game ends on a 1.

 

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Bottomofturn4toendgame.png

 

End result was him having first blood and linebreaker while I had nothing. He had no scoring units left and my bikes were stuck in a combat 1 man for the entire game, which cost me dearly since they could hide under the building holding a crusade objective. I feel I would of had it if it went on another turn, another 2 rounds to kill the lone sternguard and a chance for my chapter master to move into their deployment zone for line breaker and drop his orbital bombardment (cant assault up to the 2nd floor of ruins on a bike) for a chance at slay the warlord. Looking back is still hard for me, The amount of mistakes I made is appalling (after first mishap I got cautious with my pods, bikes not moving away from the sternguard and just gunning them down at range ect), yet on the other hand at times overwhelming ammounts of firepower fail to kill their targets (2 plasma guns vs a techmarine, 1 melta shot 2 hellfire shots, 4 plasma shots and 6 bolter shots fail to cause a single wound to a centurion ect). The hyperios seemed to not pull their weight, having trouble dealing with av 11 which they should not. Looking back the stalker was the biggest weakness in the list, I will look at replacing it with hyperios platforms asap. If anyone else saw something I did wrong feel free to point it out.

[thepowerofwar]

I am not a fan of the stalker. I feel that the hunter is better at destroying targets it shots at.

[Axagoras]

Yea i dont have a hunter model, just a rhino with a quad gun on top as a stop gap stalker. I personally feel that hyperios are better then the hunter or the stalker I just didnthave enough of them when I made the list.

[Paulochromis]

In this matchup, I think the land speeders would have been better.

Might have been worth simply blocking his centurions with your first 4 pods

[greggles]

Another great battle report.  What a massacre.  My goodness.  The last turns must of been going fast.  I appreciate that you post both the wins and the losses.  It's hard for me to post the losses sometimes, as I feel like I am just exposing my tactical blunders to the world :).

 

Agree somethings could have gone differently, but this list was very similar to yours, which I don't think you are used to facing often!  Live and learn!  In fairness, the amount of dakka you were putting on the centurions should have broken and killed them!

[Axagoras]

In this matchup, I think the land speeders would have been better.

Might have been worth simply blocking his centurions with your first 4 pods

 

LVO rules count pods as see through with a 5+ cover save and the centurions had ignores cover on them so it wouldn't of mattered (on 2nd floor so had great sight lines anyway)

 

And thanks greggles, yea thats partially why it took so long to post it was I had no motivation to put it up until I realized that as a week or so I would be putting up next months tournament report without even finishing the previous one. :P Yea the 1 wound centurion not dieing and the tfc not dieing were huge blows along with the hyperios not being bale to kill av 11 fliers :/

[Axagoras]

Another monthly tournament under my belt, this was the final prep event for the LVO (las vegas open) event which 5 of the guys from the store went to. turn out was low because it was raining like mad and was Superbowl Sunday.

 

Iron hands 1750 clan company Ferratus:

Chapter master Axagoras
Shield eternal, Thunder hammer, Artificers armor,  Space marine bike, Digital weapons

2x 5 Tac arines with plasma gun and combi plasma in a drop pod

5 Tac marines with melta gun and combi melta in a drop pod

 

10x Sternguard with 1 melta gun 4 combi meltas and 2 combi plasma in a drop pod

10x Sternguard with 1 melta gun 4 combi meltas, 1 heavy flamer and 1 combi grav in a pod

 

2x Hyperios platforms

2 units of 1 hyperios platforms

 

Allied white scars:

Khan on his bike

5 bikers with 2 grav guns and a combi grav

 

My opponents was the guy who beat me in round 3 of the first tournament I covered with a few tweaks to his list

 

Maugaan Ra

Farseer (2 buffing powers and the one for a 4++)

 

5 dire avengers

3x3 jetbikes

2x7 jet bikes

 

2 wave serpents with fire dragons

 

Some flier with 2 brightlances and 2 shuriken cannons that jinks for a 2+ cover

 

4 dark reapers

 

Bastion

 

Deployment:

In the top of the board were some castle wall sections that blocked line of sight, in the lower left was a weird building that il upload a pic in a bit to show it (its on my phone and its a bit if a pain to get it on the computer) A steep hill in the middle of the map and several ruin/rubble piles and the one in the lower right was pretty big. The mission was crusade primary and the emperors will secondary, I won the roll for placing objectives first and placed them on 1 side of the map to allow me to focus on 1 area. My opponent won the roll for sides and took the side with the tall walls. His warlord trait was split fire on maugan ra and mine was to reroll reserves. I then won the roll to deploy first and set up my hyperios platforms in the corners to have a good field of fire and placed my bikers on the line. My opponent deployed 1 serpent with fire dragons behind the left wall section with the warp spiders, the other serpent in the middle next to his dire avengers and his emperors will objective. His bastion was placed at the end of the castle wall section and had maugan ra, the farseer and the dark reapers in it. I scouted the bikes to behind the hill and hopped he wouldn't seize, which he didnt.

 

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/Feburary%20hobby%20town%20turnament/Deployment.png

 

Turn 1:

DEATH FROM THE SKIES! I bring in my sternguard pods and a plasma tactical squad, and scattered away on all of them, luckily most were still in combat range but some of the melta guns only got 1d6 on the serpent. Game plan is focus down the center of his line then clean up the survivors on the right side and hope I have enough left to stop his bikers. Axagoras and his bikers move up as far as they can. Having scout is a huge boost, not having to waste a turn moving up. The melta guns from 1 sternguard squad blew the bastion to bits, putting 2 wounds on maugan ra (damned 2+ save) and killing a dark reaper. the plasma component ran to be in a position to attack next turn. The other melta sternguard glanced out the serpent with ease. The bikers blasted away at the survivng dark reapers but LVO ruling was that cover saves from fortifications was a 3+ so it had little effect but the orbital bombardment scattered onto the fire dragons killing 3 of them and they went to ground. The tactical squad and sternguard killed 3 dire avengers.

 

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/Feburary%20hobby%20town%20turnament/Topofturn1.png

 

On his turn his surviving serpent unloaded the fire dragons and moved up with the warp spiders. maugan ra split from his squad and moved at the tactical marines. Most of his army fired at the bikers and killed all but khan and the chapter master, who took 1 wound (failed the 4 armor saves from the warp spiders to wipe most of the squad). Maugan ra, the dire avengers and the snap shots from the fire dragons killed 2 tac marines who were cut down in the assault and then consolidated into a gap in the wall (I got 1 hit from the plasma gun but he passed his 4++ save from the farseer).

 

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/Feburary%20hobby%20town%20turnament/Bottomofturn1.png

 

Turn 2:

Using my warlord trait and my poor rolling none of my reserves came in which was good for me since I have 5 biker squads to deal with.

The 2 melta sternguard squads moved on maugan ra while the anti infantry squads advanced on their targets. Khan and Axagoras parted ways, each to assault a squad on their own. The hyperios scored a lucky hit on the serpent blowing it up because it used its shield on the bikers. In the shooting phase maugan ra is downed by the 1 melta gun from the south squad freeing up the 2 stergnuard squads above them to mow down the last dive avengers and send the last fire dragon back to ground. By the wrecked bastion the sternguard killed 1 dark reaper and put 1 wound on the farseer, cursed 4++ saves. In assaults Axagoras wiped out the fire dragons and khan lost a wound to overwatch but killed 3 warp spiders yet couldnt catch them and they ran back to the wall.

 

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/Feburary%20hobby%20town%20turnament/Topofturn2.png

 

On his turn only 1 3 man squad and the 2 7 man squads of jetbikes arrived. The warp spider regrouped and failed to do anything to Axagoras but the dark reaper along with the 3 jetbikes downed the lead 2 sternguard. One of the 7 man jetbike squads poured into the anti infantry tactical squad killing only 3 THE FLESH IS WEAK! and at this point he realized that he wouldnt be able to kill enough of my marines so turbo boosted the last squad away and rolled really well on jetbike moves to get the squad that did fire pretty far away. The 3 man jetbike squad tried to consolidate onto the walls but only 2 made it up there.

 

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/Feburary%20hobby%20town%20turnament/Bottomofturn2.png

 

Turn 3:

Both of my reserves came in and I sent them to stop the jetbikes form rampaging through my backfield. Not much shooting, but the plasma tactical squad, and the 2 sternguard squads on the right side of the map combined fire to kill 5 of the jetbikes while the melta tac squad was only able to get 2. Khan assaulted the warp spiders who evaded him earlier, and made short work of them. you cant escape the hunt master. The remaining 2 sternguard squads assaulted into the enarest eldar units with 3 marines going after the farseer and dark reaper and 5 going after the jetbikes and lone fire dragon. The fire dragon killed 1 on overwatch and the sternguard only managed to kill 1 jetbike. The other comabt saw the sternguard smack the farseer for a wound but the witch held her ground. Axagoras turbo boosted to try and stop the eldar bikes and healed the wound he had lost earlier.

 

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/Feburary%20hobby%20town%20turnament/Topofturn3.png

 

On his turn only a 3 man jetbike squad showed, leaving 3 jetbikes and a flier in reserve. He moved all of his jetbikes towards the building in the lower left to hide from my men. In the assualt phase the sternguard managed to kill the farseer and the dark reaper and vs the jetbikes they killed the fire dragon, won combat and swept the jet bikes. It was the WRATH OF IRON.

 

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/Feburary%20hobby%20town%20turnament/Bottomofturn3.png

 

Turn 4:

Turn 4 involved me trying to lock down the objectives to prevent the eldar trickery I knew was comming from happening. 2 sternguard squads body blocked his emperors will objective, another 2 surrounded the crusade objective in his zone. The plasma tactical squad secured the bottom crusade objective but the melta squad had trouble moving through cover and got stuck in the rubble. Axagoras placed himself on his emperors will objective "The only way the xenos will have this relic will be to take it from my cold lifeless form". In the shooting phase I got really lucky with 2 hyperios and a storm bolter killing a jetbike squad. On the eldar turn his last squad of jetbikes came in and hid by the wall and the flier screamed in at the hyperios. I interceptored with the first hyperios that missed but the 2nd one hit and penned the flier which jinked for a 2+ cover which it passed. His jetbikes and the snap shotting fleir killed both of the hyperios and hid in the building... waiting.

 

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/Feburary%20hobby%20town%20turnament/Turn4.png

 

Turn 5:

Khan moved onto the objective on the hill to contest it, and Axagoras was about to hand off the emperos will objective to the tactical squad but rolling low to move through cover and a failed run role left them short of the objective so he stayed at its side. Bottom of turn 5... let the eldar trickery begin. his flier moved up and killed 2 marines opening a gap for the 3 jetbikes to fly across the board and contest, his 2 bike suqads emerged from the building and made short work of khan and landed on the objective. leaving the score a 4 to 3 game, (primary for 4 and the 3 secondary objective for me). But fate was on my side, we rolled for game end and a 3 came up, and he conceded saying we all know how turn 6 would go for him. We called the game at a 7-0 win for me, since I had all 3 secondaries and would have primary.

 

Afterthought was I should of played a bit more aggressive with my pods but I lost my scatter dice and the new one seems to only scatter... so that might of cost me. I also feel I need more mobility in the list, because once I land im pretty much locked in, so im thinking of trying to change that.

 

Coming up next my battle with a dark eldar beast pack list.

[greggles]

Man those jet bike shennigans are ridiculous.<br /><br />I'm hoping more tournaments move to the alternating "only get objective scores for holding for multiple turns" to mix up the "lets zoom on objectives on turn 5 and win" stuff.<br />

[Axagoras]

i have mixed feelings on that, like take a typhus plague zombie list with 6x30 zombies and typhus, 2 helldrakes and 6 oblits. most lists just cant shift that amount of bodies off the objectives